The present invention relates to a transport container for transporting a radiation shield member in which a syringe containing a radiopharmaceutical liquid is mounted.
As a transport container for transporting a syringe in which radiopharmaceutical liquid has been filled, a container as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2-95380 is known. In the container disclosed in the Patent publication, a shield material made of lead is provided along the inner peripheral surface of the container to prevent radiation emitted from a syringe, containing radiopharmaceutical liquid, accommodated therein from leaking to the outside thereof. Further, in the container, a cushioning material such as styrene foam conforming to the outer configuration of the syringe containing the radiopharmaceutical liquid is provided between the shield material and the syringe containing the radiopharmaceutical liquid so as to fix the syringe in the container. Thus, the outer diameter of the container is large and hence the outer diameter of the shield material is also large. Accordingly, the container disclosed in the Patent Publication has a disadvantage that the weight of the container is large.
The above-described container has another disadvantage in that because the container does not have a mechanism for fixing the shield material and the container made of plastic to each other, it is necessary to bond them to each other with an adhesive double coated tape or the like and thus it is uneasy to separate plastic and lead from each other for classified refuse.
Further, the container has another disadvantage that because the syringe containing the radiopharmaceutical liquid is held in the container by pressing the syringe into the shield material, the syringe accommodated in the container is popped out therefrom and the syringe containing the radiopharmaceutical liquid is damaged if the container upsets or is inclined by accident with the cover of the container open.
The cover made of plastic is fitted on the opening of the container and a shield material of a lead plate is provided in the cover to shield the radiation emitted from the syringe containing the radiopharmaceutical liquid. But the shield material formed on the cover is not bonded to the inner peripheral surface of the cover of the container, and thus it is necessary to remove the shield material provided in the cover from the container after the cover is opened. Thus, the container has still another disadvantage that its operability is bad.
Furthermore, since the cover has little play, an operator may have difficulty to some degree in opening and closing the cover. Thus, the operability of the container is bad.